Artillery troops eliminate enemy armor in Siberia drills

MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/: Artillery units of the Central Military District’s 41st all-arms army eliminated a notional enemy’s mechanized column with the support of reconnaissance squads during battalion-level tactical drills at the Yurginsky training range in the Kemerovo Region, the District’s press office reported on Thursday.

Under the drills’ scenario, the scouts of a motor rifle large unit detected a notional enemy’s mechanized column during reconnaissance and search operations and transmitted the relevant data to the command post. Artillery units were dispatched aboard their upgraded 2S19M2 ‘Msta-S’ 152mm self-propelled artillery guns to eliminate the enemy force.

"As the artillery units moved along the route, the scouts transmitted specified reconnaissance data on the movements of the adversary military hardware to the commanders of artillery batteries," the press office said in a statement.

As the combat teams of artillery guns came within a safe distance from the enemy force, they struck the targets with high-explosive fragmentation shells, the statement says.

The battalion-level tactical drills involve over 800 troops and more than 100 items of military and special hardware.

The 41st all-arms army of the Central Military District is stationed on the territory of the Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Irkutsk and Altai Regions and the Republic of Tyva. It integrates motorized infantry, artillery and air defense troops, radiation, chemical and biological protection units and signal troops.

Russia’s Central Military District is based on the territory of the Volga, Urals and Siberian integrated federal districts and 29 Russian regions. Structurally, the Central Military District also includes some overseas facilities: the 201st military base in Tajikistan, the Kant integrated military base in Kyrgyzstan and units stationed on the territory of Kazakhstan.